Love Is A Curious Thing
by red fairy in wonderland
Summary: It all started with a hat, a portal and a woman's desperate attempt to win back the love of her son. Swan Queen
1. Chapter 1

When Emma pushed Regina out of harms way, she realised that it would have consequences, but she made a promise to Henry, she would not let his adoptive mother die, and Emma Swan did not break promises, no matter the cost.

So, being her usual clumsy self, the Sheriff fell face first into the portal, right after the wraith, to lord knows where.

While the two idiots were in shock, Regina was painfully aware of the fact that the portal was closing itself and if she just let it happen without interfering, Henry would only hate her so much more, without thinking she jumped after the blonde.

The former Evil Queen was certain she would wind up in the enchanted forrest, she was almost prepared to land in nothingness in case it ceased to exist, now imagine her surprise when she found herself inside an old castle with Ms. Swan nowhere to be seen.

At least the wraith was gone, and the mark on her hand had also vanished, meaning she was safe for the time being, that is, until she returned to Storybrooke and the next angry mob was after her with pitchforks and torches, one would think they would've learned to be a little less primitive, she mused, after all, they hadn't lived in the medieval times for almost three decades now, thanks to her.

Enough of that, she needed to find the Sheriff, Henry would never forgive her if she were to leave the other woman helpless and alone in another universe, although, the thought did cross her mind.

The brunette took a moment to take in her surroundings, she was in a long hallway with a high ceiling and brick walls on either side, they were adorned with paintings which, curiously enough, seemed to be moving inside their frames, she squinted her eyes at this, but decided to pay no mind to them, she had more important matters to deal with at the moment, the paintings could wait.

For now she had to find the infuriating blonde Sheriff that insisted on making her life hell at any chance she got.

As Regina turned around the corner however, she was faced with a complication, she had run into something solid, or rather, someone.

"Watch where you're going you idiot!" she hissed as she picked herself of the floor.

Glaring daggers at the man who had knocked her down, she brushed some imaginary dust off her perfectly ironed slacks.

The dark man merely raised an eyebrow at the short tempered brunette, slightly surprised that someone would dare speak to him in that manner, but not finding her intimidating in the least.

He was close to a foot taller than her, even with the heels she insisted on wearing, leaning her head back slightly to get a better look, the Mayor inspected the tall strangers face closely, noting that his eyes were pitch black, which was quite the unusual trait.

Just as she was about to speak up once more, a group of boys, not much older than her own son, came running down the corridor, pursing her lips, she placed a hand on her hip.

"No running in the hallways, 20 points from Gryffindor, each" a silky voice next to her drawled, so the Mayor directed her attention back to the strangers black eyes, for the better part of the next two minutes the both of them wordlessly kept trying to stare the each other down.

"Regina Mills" the brunette announced haughtily and extended a hand.

"Professor Severus Snape" the man replied, reaching for the offered hand and bending down to place a kiss on delicate knuckles.

"Well, who says chivalry is dead?" she questioned disdainfully as she snatched her hand from his grasp and promptly strode past him with her head raised high.

Unbeknownst to the former Queen, Severus Snape smirked to himself, finally having found himself a worthy opponent, it would be nice to have someone to bicker with, other than Albus, the old twinkle eyed fool and his ever so faithful accomplice Minerva McGonagall.

All the while, a dumbfounded Emma Swan found herself in what seemed to be an empty classroom, but only if you didn't count the tabby cat sitting on the teachers desk.

She paid it no mind and sat on one of the chairs the room offered instead, sighing deeply, the Savior let her eyelids fall closed for a moment, when she opened them again after what seemed like half a second, she let out a small shriek as there now stood a woman in a dark green robes and witches hat in the cats stead.

"Who are you dear girl?" the woman asked curiously, with a tad of excitement in her voice "You wouldn't happen to be our new DADA teacher would you? Albus wouldn't even tell me a name! Can you believe that? Almost 40 years of being his deputy and he's still keeping secrets like that from me!"

"Anyway, I was just making my way back over to the sorting ceremony, why don't you come along ?" without even waiting for a reply or telling the Sheriff her name, the curious lady grabbed a list from the desk the cat just sat on and hurried out the room, leaving the blonde gaping after her, opening and closing her mouth dumbly "But... the cat… where..?!.…what..?"

She only snapped out of her daze once the woman poked her head back into the room, encouraging Emma to follow her.

When the elderly woman pushed open the gigantic double doors that marked the great hall, Emma paused, it was a beautiful sight, the ceiling looked exactly like the night sky, and there were candles floating all over the place, the excited chattering of the students and teachers alike sounding very distant as she was watching the clouds move across the room and the moon shining bright.

"Ah Minerva, I was wondering when you would arrive" a very old man with a white beard and bright blue robe announced.

_So that's her name, _the Sheriff thought, as the woman, whose name she just found out to be Minerva, questioned the man, who looked exceptionally much like what she would imagine Merlin himself to have looked like, about having hired a new teacher.

"No" he stated simply, while looking over the blonde.

"What do you mean, no?! Then who is she? And who is this years Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?"

"..maybe she's a time traveler from the future? We don't have one yet" he admitted solemnly.

"ALBUS DUMBLEDORE!" came his his deputy Headmistresses screech of disapproval.

"The first years are waiting for you Minerva" he countered, gesturing to the group of 11 year olds waiting to be sorted into their respective houses.

The Headmaster ended up inviting Emma to stay for the time being, straightaway introducing each member of the staff to her.

By the time the sorting hat was chanting its song the blonde Savior was absolutely ecstatic.


	2. Chapter 2

As the former Queen walked through the halls, she started hearing animated chattering, so she followed it, assuming that her son's birthmother would wander into the same direction, if she wasn't already there.

The blonde was indeed already there, she was sitting at the head table, next to a very old, bearded man, who probably held a lot of authority judging by the looks of it, _so much for being helpless.._ Regina mused as she watched the Savior stuff her face with the biggest piece of chocolate cake she had ever seen.

"Miss Swan! You fall through a portal and the first thing you do is eat?!" she scolded incredulously.

"What?! I just found out that i have parents and on top of that they are some sort of fairytale characters! This is crazy Regina! Eating is my way to deal with this shit, I AM ENTITLED TO HAVE SOME CHOCOLATE" having started shouting halfway through her rant, the wide eyed blonde was now breathing heavily while helping herself to yet another piece of cake and filling her glass with a yellowish substance that almost resembled beer.

"Perhaps you should refrain from eating so much sugar, dear? You do seem a bit anxious already" she teased and "What is it that you're drinking there anyway?" frowning as she regarded the younger woman's drink.

Picking the glass up and holding it merely inches in front of her face, Emma cocked her head to the side and glanced at it curiously "Don't know exactly… Old man said it's called Butter Beer" she shrugged before nonchalantly taking a sip.

"You missed the sorting ceremony, it was awesome! They even let me have a turn! And Minerva magicked me a scarf with the house colours and crest on it! It used to be a goblet before" proudly waving her new possession in front of the Mayors face, who in turn, stared at her incredulously not for the first time that day, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

"Did you hit your head, Savior? How can you be so excited ?! And stop it with that godforsaken scarf of yours!" she barked.

"But look at the crest Regina! It's a Lion! Lions are awesome!" the Sheriff deliberately chose to ignore the posed questions, to which the brunette could only groan annoyedly.

"You don't understand… this is all i ever wanted, this is paradise… a paradise of food" the blondes eyes getting watery as she gestured at the food around her, the plates magically filling themselves with all of her favourite desserts.

"You can't be serious" Regina deadpanned.

"I'm not, but it's distracting me" with that statement Emma stuck out her tongue.

"Charming dear" the former Queen replied and was instantly met by a glare from her blonde companion.

"Wait… Why are you even here? You finally managed to get rid of me just to come to my rescue? You could've had Henry all for yourself" the Saviour wondered confusedly.

"My son would never forgive me if I were to leave you here, you know that as well as I do"

"Our" the Savior corrected with a frown.

"Excuse me?"

"He's my son too, Regina, he's Ours"

All the while Albus and Minerva were observing the pair with great interest, talking to each other so quietly that nobody but them could make out what was being said.

"Would you look at that, Her Sassiness has found her way to the festivities" the same silky voice from earlier spoke up.

In a matter of seconds the Mayor was standing right in front of him, so close their noses were almost touching, one hand tightly grasping the Professors collar as she conjured up a fireball in the other.

"If you call me that again, I shall destroy your happiness, if it is the last thing i do" she hissed dangerously, her eyes wildly swirling with purple.

Although, her actions were halted when the Savior gingerly placed her hand underneath her elbow 'Regina' she warned silently.

The furious brunette visibly calmed at that, and even though her eyes still screamed murder, no flames were erupting around her, which was always a good sign with the hot headed small town Mayor.

"Wandless magic… remarkable" the Headmaster muttered to himself with sparkling eyes "Severus my boy, do you know her?" he addressed Snape.

"No Sir, I can't say that i do" Professor Snape said in a bored manner.

Regina chose this moment to conjure up another chair for herself right next to the Savior, who dutifully moved her own chair aside a little to make space for the brunette.

"Hmm, well now that we're all complete it would be a great time for my annual welcome speech" which went rather smooth, until "-third floor corridor is out of bounds, unless you wish to die a most painful death and lastly, I like Treacle Tart, thank you all for your attention"

At this, Regina raised both her eyebrows as high as they could go and Emma caught between laughing at the Treacle Tart comment and cringing as she wondered what kind of monster Dumbledore could be harbouring in a school full of children.

The Sheriff leaned closer to the Mayor "Have I told you how happy I am to have you sitting next to me?… between me and the headmaster.. who is completely insane" she teasingly whispered in the her ear, snickering lightly.

However as she felt the palm of Madame Mayors hand collide with the back of her head she stopped laughing.

"Ouch! That hurt! What was that for?" she complained, as the older woman calmly stated "Simply for being you, you have to learn that your stupidity hurts, and not only yourself, but also my nerves, dear"

"Now, did you figure out where we are when you were talking to them?" Regina wanted to know, regardless of the fact that she had no idea how they would be getting back yet.

"Yeah" Emma smiled, "I know EXACTLY where we are, thanks to a very lengthy and detailed description of this place by some bushy haired eleven year old, in short, we're in Hogwarts, School of Wizardry and Witchcraft"


	3. Chapter 3

As the Queen and the Savior were arguing about how to get back to Storybrooke, Regina brought up that she might be able to brew a potion that would help them, Dumbledore, being the sneaky old fool he was, was listening in to their conversation, a plan forming inside his head he requested they come to his office after the feast, unnoticed by them he also ordered Professor Snape to drop by the Headmasters office.

Following Dumbledore out of the great hall, Regina caught bits of conversations around her

"-hope she is, anyone standing up to the bat of the dungeons deserves my respect!"

"-my new personal hero, I -"

"-and the fireball! that was so cool!" most of the comments coming from Gryffindor table.

"Now I see why you took a liking to this place so quickly, dear, they love me already " Regina smirked delightfully, cherishing that someone liked her for a change, making Emma roll her eyes.

When the group was standing in front of the two gargoyles that were apparently guarding the staircase up to the his office, Dumbledore cheerfully exclaimed "Sherbert Lemon!"

The Savior left Regina's side as soon as they entered to explore the rooms treasures with a childish excitement that only Emma Swan could pull of, as she saw Fawkes, she walked over to get a better look at the bird and tentatively reached a out a hand to pat it, but as the object of her attention unexpectedly caught fire she could only gawk at it with wide scared eyes, her hand falling limply to her side, she continued staring as a small baby bird now sat in midst of the ashes.

She turned around with her mouth still hanging open in her daze, searching Dumbledores twinkling eyes for a hint of what had just happened, the Headmaster, who had been watching Emma go into shock, calmly explained to her that she just witnessed the rebirth of a phoenix and that it was quite normal for that to happen.

Directing his attention back to Regina, they went back to talking about various things like the Mayor's skills in potions, how her magic worked without a wand and also Hogwarts, all the while proceeding to thrust a book, titled 'Hogwarts: A History', into the Latina's hands.

Blinking at the man a few times the Sheriff went on exploring, instantly catching sight of a familiar item on top of one of the large bookcases, namely, the sorting hat, ignoring what was going on around her, she climbed up the ladder that was leaning against the shelf to have a silent conversation with it.

Regina and Dumbledore swiftly turned to the door as a knock sounded through the room, "You may enter" the old wizard stated loudly.

"Severus, there you are, I have an offer to make, I know how long you wanted the DADA post, and I would like for you to have it, under the condition that Regina here takes over as Potions Professor" headmaster Dumbledore said, gesturing at the Mayor.

Of course, having been after the Defence Against the Dark Arts post for years, the Professor didn't object as it was finally offered to him.

Sneaking up behind her, Emma cautiously placed the sorting hat on the Queen's head, who went to slap the younger woman's hands away immediately, but when the hat began speaking, her eyes widened significantly.

It didn't take long for it to loudly declare "Slytherin!", making the Queen scrunch her face up in confusion.

"I KNEW IT!" Emma squealed excitedly.

"Are you quite done with your less than appropriate behaviour Sheriff?" Regina huffed, taking the offending object off her head and shoving it back into Emma's hands.

Eventually agreeing to take the job, as it could take a while for them to figure a way to get back, Regina glared at Emma who, maintaining eye contact, slowly put the hourglass she was now holding back down.

"Excellent!" the Headmaster cheered, looking expectantly at the cat Snape had brought in with him, it was the same tabby cat Emma had seen earlier that day, "Minerva, kindly lead our guests to their new quarters on the sixth floor, you know which ones, the password is 'Unicorn Stickers' , also, I would like for you to accompany them to Hogsmeade first thing tomorrow"

"Seriously?" Regina said to no one in particular, watching Emma snickering into her hand.

The cat turned back into the familiar form of Minerva McGonagall, quickly informing Professor Dumbledore that his requests would be taken care of as soon as possible and lead them to their new rooms.

"Can everyone here change into an animal Minerva?" Emma asked as they were on their way.

"Only the those skilled in transfiguration, I can tell you more about it on our trip tomorrow if you'd be interested" the woman smiled fondly as Emma seemed genuinely interested in the idea of learning about animagi.

Minerva came to a halt in front of the portrait of a thin, middle aged woman in an orange dress, "Password?" she demanded.

With a huge grin on her face, Emma blurted out the password, knowing full well that it would annoy Regina to no end to have to repeat the words 'Unicorn Stickers' each time she attempted to enter her own rooms.

They climbed though the portrait hole, the transfiguration teacher walking ahead, explaining that this had once been the office and living quarters of one Professor Slughorn, who had been the school's Potions Master for a very long time before Professor Snape took over, preferring to live in the dungeons, nobody, save for the house elves, had set foot in here since.

The room was rather large and quite cozy with the fire crackling in the fireplace and the two couches surrounding it, there was a small bookshelf and also a desk to their right, a potions cabinet to their left, two doors on one side and one on the opposite side such as four huge windows all throughout the room, halfway covered with maroon curtains, moonlight was seeping in through stained glass.

Emma fought the urge to snatch herself a blanket from the back of one of the couches and pass out in midst the comfortable looking pillows it provided and kept following Minerva, who rattled on about how the former Potions Professor used to hold christmas parties here.

As they descended further into their new temporary home, Emma saw that the place was even bigger than she originally thought, around the corner she a table with at least ten chairs surrounding it, a private balcony and yet another door.

"Holy shit!" Emma exclaimed loudly as let her eyes wander around the gigantic room once again.

"Language!" came Regina's sharp reply a few feet behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

Later this evening had Regina and Emma sitting in the Mayors new bedroom for the time being.

From her spot atop the bedsheets, the brunette was curiously eyeing Emma who was currently recounting everything she heard about 'the boy who lived' and 'he who must not be named', there was something about the blonde, that had her utterly fascinated, not that she would ever admit that out loud.

After a while of talking, the brunette had fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion, Emma, feeling quite tired herself, considerately placed a blanked over the Mayors sleeping form and quietly tip toed out of the room to go to bed as well.

The early hours of the next morning found Regina in the potions classroom with none other than Severus Snape, going over her lesson plans.

He had various schedules and lists laid out neatly in front of the former Queen and explained what she was to do impeccably and in the smallest detail, and of course the mayor memorised everything she was told instantly.

After a long hour she met up with Professor McGonagall and Miss Swan by the great hall, so they could go on their trip to Hogsmeade together.

Having arrived there, Minerva showed them around for a while, attending to the most important things on their list first, so after buying writing utensils, wands that were more for show than anything and potion ingredients, they were now in a small clothing store.

Regina, who had given very clear instructions for her own wardrobe, was arguing with the tailor as the small, hyper woman feverishly measured every inch of the Savior, already having a vision of exactly what to present the women, as she had free reign over the blondes clothing, as soon as she had all the mesurements she ran off to the back room to find a few fitting attires for the blonde.

Obviously the excitable redhead was very good at her job, since each outfit she had brought was really comfortable and fitted perfectly, although the best point, as Emma found, was that under ten new outfits, there was only one dress included, and even this looked acceptable to the Sherif, not that one would see much of it under a cloak anyway.

Right before Minerva left them on their own to explore Hogsmeade some more, agreeing to meet in the Three Broomsticks, she arranged for the women's purchases to be brought to the castle later on.

So the both of them were promenading through the streets until the Sherif stopped in front of a shop, the sigh on the roof read 'Honeyduckes', her mouth watering she longingly gazed at all the candies though the huge glass windows.

"This is..." the blonde Savior breathed speechlessly.

"like a fairytale?" Regina finished for her, for which Emma shot her a dirty look but dragged her in nonetheless.

A good hour later, they exited the shop, Emma, having purchased everything she could possibly get her hands on, was carrying several large bags filled with various sweets, a good chunk of them being things neither of them had ever seen before.

When they had seen everything of the small village, the group returned to the castle to go on about their duties, or in Emma's case, storing all her candies under her bed.

Regina immediately went to teach the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw first years and second years, while Emma and Minerva retreated to the latter's office for tea and biscuits.

After a while the topic of their conversation shifted to Regina, who wasn't really sharing a lot of information about herself with Minerva, other than her name and her knowledge of potions, she also didn't seem particularly interested in the wizarding community of Britain.

"I think Regina just needs a cat.."

"I think that can be arranged" Minerva whispered conspiratory.

As Regina made or way to her closet, still wondering why Emma and Minerva hand't shown up for dinner in the great hall, she pulled out some night clothes and caught a movement in the corner of her eyes.

"Emma.." she drawled out longer than necessary, knowing the blonde had heard her as she was just outside the Mayor's room, lying on her stomach in front of the fireplace, reading a suspicious looking book.

"What is this?" the brunette demanded, pointing at the cute little creature sitting on deep red sheets in the middle of her queen sized bed, hiding the fact that she actually thought it was the most adorable thing she had ever seen, her soft tone and the enamoured expression on her face betraying her intentions however.

As the furry little thing leaned it's head to the left and stared up at her with large green eyes, flickering it's lion like tail excitedly, she knew she was done for, not being able to suppress her smile any longer, the corners of her mouth twitched a little, and the emotions in her eyes were apparent for anyone to see.

Emma who was watching her, smiling like a fool by now, crossed her arms in front of her chest, "She's a kneazle, her name is Calliope, she's yours " she stated happily "I got one too! wait a sec"

"Othello! C'mere boy" she called out the door, waiting for the kneazle to come running in, which it surprisingly did, at an alarming speed, it bolted around the corner and right into the coat rack close to Regina's bedroom door, making it sway a little, a few cloaks and Emma's red leather jacket now burying the fluffy troublemaker underneath them.

Emma lifted them off the kitten, scooped it up and held it out for Regina to see.

"I swear, if you start singing the circle of life now.. " she warned, leaning forward to inspect the mischievous fur ball, it resembled a leopard, but much fluffier and due to the the large ears and lion-like tail, which her own new pet also seemed to possess, she assumed they were traits all kneazles shared.

"I originally only planned to purchase one for you but look how cute he is! I couldn't resist"

Regina's face morphed into a pout as a small paw landed on her nose, taking a step back, honey brown eyes flickered from vigilant yellow to sparkling emerald ones, "I can see the resemblance" she teased halfheartedly before walking over to her closet once more, beginning to undress, she deliberately ignored the blonde's presence.

Emma almost dropped Othello as she realised what Regina was doing, she had always found the Latina undeniably attractive, so seeing her undress did nothing to help the case.

The Saviors face flushed a deep crimson as she dropped her head in embarrassment for staring openmouthedly at the now practically naked woman before her.

"Oh, and Emma?" Regina inclined her head towards Emma, smiling at the Sheriff sweetly, the blonde looked up in surprise, it was extremely rare that the Mayor would call Emma by her given name.

"Thank you" she mumbled softly, holding eye contact for a few seconds before turning back around.


End file.
